In a world’s first, easyJet is trialing a new lighter weight paint from Mankiewicz Aviation Coatings that will enable fuel savings while reducing emissions. Once rolled out fleetwide, the carrier expects to save up to 1,296 tonnes of fuel annually.
On Friday (January 3, 2025), easyJet announced that they are trialing a new lighter weight paint from Mankiewicz Aviation coatings in an effort to reduce fuel use and emissions. So far the paint has been applied to 38 aircraft, and once rolled out fleetwide by 2030, easyJet expects to benefit from a fuel savings of up to 1,296 and a reduction of CO2 emissions of 4,095 annually. easyJet is the first airline in the world to trial the new lighter paint with Dublin-based MRO, MAAS Aviation, painting the aircraft at their Maastricht facility. Although the lighter paint delivers a relatively modest weight reduction of 27 kg per aircraft, when complemented with other fuel reduction methods across the fleet, it provides another important method of reducing fuel use and emissions.
In Friday’s announcement, easyJet’s Director of Sustainability, Lahiru Ranasinghe, said,
“easyJet is constantly exploring and developing innovative solutions to lower the impact of our operations. While this forms a small part of a bigger strategy, formulating a new lightweight paint with our partners at Mankiewicz Aviation Coatings exemplifies how we’re assessing every single part of our operation to find efficiency gains to help us achieve this mission.”
Also commenting on the new paint trial, Mankiewicz Aviation Coating’s Aviation Sales Manager, Andrew Richardson, said,
“We are pleased to have been easyJet’s chosen coatings partner for the last 15 years and to have worked on this sustainability driven project. Sustainability and Environmental guardianship are at the heart of Mankiewicz’s core values and being able to work closely with easyJet on this has been very rewarding.”
MAAS Aviation’s Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Marston, added,
“Environmental responsibility is taken extremely seriously throughout our operations at MAAS. We work closely with our supply chain to ensure we use the latest technology products that deliver the highest standards of performance and finish, while reducing the impact on the world around us. We are very proud to be part of such a groundbreaking initiative.”
easyJet's Iconic Livery is Applied With Lighter Paint at MAAS Aviation in Maastricht - Courtesy easyJet
easyJet serves over 155 airports across 35 countries and operates nearly 1,000 routes. The airline has a fleet of more than 300 aircraft, and over 300 million Europeans live within an hour’s drive of an airport served by easyJet. During 2023, easyJet carried more than 82 million passengers. The popular low-cost carrier (LCC) is dedicated to innovation and leads the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational efficiencies. In 2022, easyJet published their roadmap to net zero by 2050, which features a range of initiatives, including fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernization, SAF and carbon removal technology.
Source: easyJet